Facilities & Administrative (F&A) rates are used to recover costs spent on sponsored projects that cannot be directly attributed to a particular project. They also are referred to as indirect costs.
On Dec. 5, 2022, the University of California and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the responsible federal audit agency) entered into a new F&A cost rate agreement for UC Merced. This agreement establishes facilities and administrative cost rates for July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2025. It supersedes the agreement dated Jan. 8, 2016.
Current F&A rates are:
| Rate Type |
7/1/2016 to 6/30/2022 |
7/1/2022 to 6/30/2023 |
7/1/2023 to 6/30/2024 |
7/1/2024 to 6/30/2025 |
| On Campus | 55% | 56.5% | 58% | 58.5% |
| Off Campus | 26% | 26% | 26% | 26% |
The above rates are applied to Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), defined in the rate agreement as follows:
Consisting of all salaries and wages, fringe benefits, materials, supplies, services, travel and subgrants and subcontracts up to the first $25,000 of each subgrant or subcontract (regardless of the period covered by the subgrant or subcontract). Modified Total Direct Costs shall exclude equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, student tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships, and fellowships as well as the portion of each subgrant and subcontract in excess of $25,000.
Please note that if the subaward is issued to another UC campus, the full amount of the subaward is excluded from the MTDC calculation.
The on-campus rate should be used for all research conducted in buildings owned by or leased by the University of California Regents. The off-campus rate should be used only when work is either done at facilities owned or leased by other organizations, or in a building for which rent is being directly charged to the project.
The UCOP Costing and Policy website contains valuable information on F&A-approved rates for all campuses.
UC campuses fully executed F&A rate agreements
UC Merced’s F&A rate history, along with other UC campuses
What is the 'F' and 'A' in an F&A Rate?
The campus’ F&A rate agreement is negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services and derived through a complex calculation involving space usage and the following cost pools:
Facilities Cost Pools:
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Building depreciation
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Equipment depreciation
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Interest
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Operations & maintenance (utilities, maintenance, etc.)
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Library services
Administration Cost Pools:
The Administrative cost pools are "capped" at 26%, regardless of what these costs actually are.
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General administration
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Departmental administration
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Sponsored projects administration
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Student services administration
The Space Survey
The space survey is used to help develop a campus F&A cost rate proposal and is a critical part of the F&A proposal.
The space survey classifies rooms based on the activities performed in the rooms, as well as the room's occupants. Space surveys are used to allocate the following F&A costs to organized research, instruction, and other functions:
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Building depreciation
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Equipment depreciation
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Interest
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Operations & maintenance (utilities, maintenance, etc.)
